Chapter 51
“Emergency situation detected. Please deploy the safety team on standby immediately.”
Mystery Rich, who had been watching the situation unfold in real time, quickly picked up the radio and gave an order.
-Aaaaaaagh!!!
On the screen, Park Jun-ho was rolling around on the ground, screaming.
As soon as the transmission ended, the safety team waiting on-site set out immediately.
Vroom.
With a loud engine roar, a speedboat swiftly cut through the dark sea.
Mystery Rich furrowed his brow.
‘What on earth did he touch?’
There was no way he would be reacting like that if he had merely scraped his hand on a rock.
The survival expert watching the situation closely beside him carefully spoke up.
“Hmm.”
“What is it?”
“We’d have to check to know for sure, but….”
The expert pointed at the tide pool on the screen.
“It looks highly likely that participant Park Jun-ho was attacked by a venomous creature.”
“A venomous creature….”
“Yes. He got excited after finding the abalone and narrowed his field of vision, so he failed to properly watch his surroundings.”
Park Jun-ho on the screen let out another desperate scream.
-Aaaagh!!! Save me!!!
Only Park Jun-ho’s screams echoed through the studio.
@
We were heading toward the tide pool with torches in hand when we heard a scream.
“What was that?”
Yerin and Kim Woong looked toward where the sound came from, startled.
Something about the atmosphere seemed ominous.
Before long, we reached the tide pool and saw a figure rolling around on the ground.
“Aaaagh!!!”
The sharp-eyed man holding the flashlight.
He rolled around on the wet sand, letting out agonized screams.
“P-Please save me!!!”
His face was bright red like a ripe tomato, and cold sweat streamed down his entire body.
The man’s companions were in a complete panic.
“Hyung, please come to your senses! Are you okay?! You can’t die!”
The moment they spotted us, they rushed over and dropped to their knees.
“P-Please help our hyung… I’m begging you….”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know… He went into the tide pool to grab an abalone, and then suddenly he ended up like that….”
Abalone?
That couldn’t be.
Abalone weren’t venomous creatures.
I looked at the tide pool with an indifferent expression.
The darkness completely concealed the water’s surface.
“Let me borrow the flashlight for a moment.”
“Excuse me?”
“Hurry.”
When I shone the flashlight’s bright beam into the tide pool,
the clear water was illuminated, revealing fish swimming around and turban shells and clams packed closely together.
I carefully examined the inside of the tide pool.
“There has to be something else.”
As I slowly illuminated the surroundings, a single abalone appeared in the corner.
Palm-sized.
Apparently, he had suffered this misfortune while trying to pick up that large abalone.
But the thing I was looking for wasn’t the abalone.
The cause that had left the man like that.
I had to find it.
As I moved the flashlight beam around, thoroughly searching the gaps between the rocks and the bottom of the tide pool, I saw a rock near the abalone trembling ever so slightly.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary rock.
It looked like a small, bumpy rock you could find anywhere.
But on closer inspection, it had eyes.
Sharp, jagged spines jutted up along its back.
“This is a stonefish.”
“What’s a stonefish?”
Yerin tilted her head at the unfamiliar name of the fish.
“It’s an extremely dangerous fish.”
Stonefish.
Just as its name suggests, it’s a fish that looks like a rock.
Its camouflage is so excellent that when it remains still while camouflaged, it’s difficult to tell whether it’s a rock or a fish even in daylight.
The problem was that stonefish were one of the most dangerous fish in the world.
“Stonefish are venomous.”
“Venom?”
“Yep. The spines on its back contain venom. If even one of those touches human skin….”
I looked impassively at Park Jun-ho rolling around on the ground.
“They say it hurts so badly you’d be better off dead.”
According to interviews with people who had actually been attacked by stonefish,
one man said it was more painful than being kicked in the balls, while one woman said it hurt worse than childbirth.
That was how painful it was.
“I-Isn’t there anything we can do?”
The panicked man asked me.
There was a first-aid treatment.
Stonefish venom consists of heat-sensitive protein toxins, so the first-aid treatment was rather unusual.
I’d heard that immersing the wound in hot water to denature the venom really did help relieve the pain.
The problem was that we had no way to get hot water right now.
‘Nothing we can do about this.’
I shook my head and handed the flashlight back to the man.
“The safety team will be here if you wait.”
In a situation like this, it was wiser to wait for the safety team than recklessly fiddle with this or that.
“Aaaah!!! S-Save me!!!”
Park Jun-ho continued rolling around and screaming.
A scream fit for a little girl.
I stared blankly at him and thought to myself.
‘That must hurt.’
@
Kim Seong-hun, an emergency medicine specialist on the safety team.
“Phew.”
In front of him sat a cup of instant ramen with steam rising from it.
He had just poured in hot water and picked up his chopsticks when—
Beep!
An urgent sound burst from the radio.
-Emergency situation!
“Of all times, it had to be now….”
Kim Seong-hun gazed regretfully at the cup of ramen.
‘I was just about to take my first bite.’
But a person’s life came first.
He immediately grabbed the emergency bag and boarded the speedboat.
Vroom!
The speedboat cut through the night sea with its engine roaring,
and upon reaching the scene, he immediately checked the patient’s condition.
“Is he conscious?”
“Yes!”
“Is he breathing?”
“Normally!”
His vital signs were normal, but he was breaking out in a cold sweat and complaining of pain.
‘An envenomation.’
If so, it was important to know what creature had stung him.
Venomous creatures each carried different toxins in their bodies.
Just as Kim Seong-hun was about to examine the patient’s wound,
he heard a small voice beside him.
“A stonefish did that to him.”
“What?”
When Kim Seong-hun turned his head, a small girl stood where his gaze fell.
She was cradling a large lizard in her arms.
Kim Seong-hun immediately realized who this child was.
Rils.
The participant who had recently become the hottest topic on Mystery Rich’s show.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep.”
Rils pointed at the tide pool with her finger.
“He put his hand in the tide pool to grab an abalone, and then collapsed.”
“Yes.”
“But there was a stonefish near the abalone.”
Kim Seong-hun immediately shone his flashlight into the tide pool Rils had pointed to.
Even if it was a participant’s claim, it needed to be verified accurately.
“…….”
And there it was—a stonefish camouflaged like a rock near the abalone. Its camouflage was so effective that even people familiar with the sea occasionally fell victim to this fish.
“It is a stonefish. Thank you very much for your help.”
Thanks to Rils, the girl, they had greatly reduced the time it took to identify the venomous creature.
In an emergency where every second mattered, information was more important than anything else.
“We can breathe a little easier thanks to you, Ms. Rils.”
“Yep.”
Rils shrugged as if it were nothing.
Kim Seong-hun marveled inwardly.
Most people wouldn’t even have been able to distinguish it from a rock.
The participant named Rils had recognized at a glance what had attacked the patient and conveyed the necessary information to him.
She was as calm and quick to assess the situation as a professional.
‘No wonder she’s become such a hot topic.’
Kim Seong-hun immediately began giving orders to the medical staff.
“Prepare to transport the patient.”
“Yes!”
“We believe it’s a puncture wound caused by a stonefish’s venomous spine. Check the wound and continue monitoring his vital signs.”
The medical staff moved swiftly.
A stretcher was unfolded, and Park Jun-ho was carried into the speedboat, groaning.
“Hyung! Are you okay? W-What am I supposed to do?”
Kang Tae-sik asked Kim Seong-hun worriedly.
“That’s your choice. Since you’re unharmed, Mr. Kang Tae-sik, you may remain on the deserted island.”
“N-No! I’m worried about my hyung too, so I’ll go with him.”
After saying that, Kang Tae-sik also boarded the speedboat.
Vroom!
The speedboat once again cut through the dark sea and disappeared into the distance.
The once-noisy beach fell quiet, with only the sound of waves echoing.
@
[The gallery owner gets two kills]
Author: Nongnongnongnong
(A meme of Park Jun-ho being carried away on a stretcher with Kang Tae-sik following behind)
HaeruTV clip
ㄴHoly shitㅋㅋㅋㅋ The situation is fucking hilarious
ㄴThe gallery owner’s kill rate is 100%;;
ㄴWho’s next? Step up if you’re confident
ㄴNo, the gallery owner didn’t even sting himㅋㅋ
ㄴBut he was at the scene
ㄴSeeing Rils reminds me of that detective who always seems to attract incidents ㄷㄷ
ㄴKyaaaah!
[I’ll lay out the incident timeline myself]
Author: (134.22)
The gallery owner’s party went to the beach to go shellfishing
Then they ran into HaeruTV
Park Jun-ho said torches wouldn’t be enough, then started rubbing it in with his flashlight
The gallery owner took revenge by stealing the turban shells
HaeruTV also ran to the tide pool Kim Woong had found to get revenge
Then they got stung by a stonefish and were knocked out
ㄴFuckㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴAh, the timeline is fucking hilariousㅋㅋ
ㄴSo, in summary, are you saying two middle-aged men got taken out trying to get revenge on a little kid?
ㄴAmazingly, that’s exactly right
ㄴYou must never mess with the gallery owner
ㄴThey got stung by a venomous spine trying to steal the abalone
ㄴRils doesn’t fight battles she can’t win
ㄴRils, ‘The Woman Who Never Loses’
ㄴㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[But isn’t Park Jun-ho being way too dramatic?]
Author: GirlCamLover
Is it really appropriate for a grown man to roll around on the ground bawling just because he got poked by a fish spine?
What a disgrace to men, seriously
ㄴYou idiot, be grateful you live in Korea
ㄴI’m not even kidding, they say it hurts like hell
ㄴThere are lots of stonefish in Australia; if you accidentally step on one, you really can die
ㄴPeople have actually died from itㅇㅇ
ㄴThat’s not being dramatic; it really hurts badly enough to kill you
ㄴYou’d be better off stepping on a sea urchin barefoot
ㄴㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[The gallery owner < Isn’t she too kind?]
Author: RilsFan
(A meme of Rils explaining it to the doctor)
She’s truly an angel baby
ㄴIsn’t she just causing the trouble and then fixing it?
ㄴWhat? Don’t say such mean things ㄴㄴ
ㄴThe fact is, he got himself stung after going off on his own
ㄴStill, thanks to the gallery owner, he’s getting treated quickly
ㄴㅇㅇ Even the doctor said she was a huge help
ㄴSometimes the gallery owner seems like an angel, and sometimes like a devil. It’s confusing
ㄴThat’s the charm
ㄴNeedle, help, needle, help, needle, help
ㄴFucking hellㅋㅋㅋ What a horrifying hybrid
ㄴShe stole their turban shells, but she saved their lives, right?
ㄴTrue, true